Mazdaspeed Braces

Mazdaspeed front strut brace for NA

[10/5/2004] Reviewed by: Chris Rummel - Rumnhammer@aol.com

Applicable to: '90 - '97 1.6 liter 1.8 liter

A very high quality, factory Mazdaspeed strut brace, all aluminum constrution
that connects the front strut towers stiffening the engine compartment.

I found this brace on ebay from a seller in Japan, and was impressed with the
beefiness of the the unit. I got it for $135 shipped EMS from Japan, and was
even more impressed when I received it. This thing is more substancial then
all the other strut braces I've seen, the unit is made of all alumnium, and
the fit is perfect, as I expected it would be considering it is a factory Mazdaspeed
piece. After installing it, it looked great, and then driving the car, I imediately
noticed a differnce in the car. Cowl shake is totally gone, and the car feels
much more solid, the 65mph shimmy is about 70percent gone too, still there but
less perceveable. The car feels much more solid, even though this brace is not
as critical as on a car with a strut front suspention, but it does make a noticeable
differnce! What is even more dramatic is that my car is a garage queen, so I
don't drive the car often and I could still notice a differnce, so if you drive
your car da! ily you will definatly notice.

A great factory product that looks good and performs well too. If you see one
of these on ebay snatch it up.

Mazdaspeed '99 Front Shock Tower Brace

Polished aluminum cross-brace with gold anodized (?) mounting
brackets. Small Mazdaspeed nameplate in center of cross-brace. Mounts by removing
two nuts on each shock tower. A u-joint behind the socket, and a six-inch ratchet
extender bar will aid in the installation. The nuts should be re-torqued to
22-26 ft.lbs.

Was a very simple installation. The Japanese instructions
seemed to indicate that I should use the included wire tie to attach something
in the engine compartment to the passenger-side mounting bracket, but I was
not able to determine what their intent is. The unit is extremely lightweight
but seems strong, and the polished aluminum is a beautiful addition to my engine
compartment.

Among all the "strut braces" on the market, the
angled-back brackets of the Mazdaspeed design allow the trouble-free installation
of a large free-flow intake (ala Racing Beat). As I am running 16x7 alloys and
215/40R16 tires on my '99, I had hopes that this brace would help my heavy unsprung-weight
control problem, but if it is helping, it is a quite subtle effect.